Rebecca Epstein, the executive director of the Center on Gender Justice and Opportunity at Georgetown Law, said charges against victims are common. Epstein co-authored a report in April looking at how survivors of sexual assault and abuse are often criminalized. “Girls who experience sexual abuse are often the ones who are punished for the sexual
Just as the killing of George Floyd and others provided the catalyst to open Americans’ eyes to systemic police violence against the Black community, the arrest and detention of a 15-year-old Michigan girl named Grace for failing to do her homework should be the wake-up call to end the criminalization of Black girls, say Rebecca
“There’s a hostility that’s often there. If you are deferential and submissive you get a little better treatment,” said Chapman. “But anytime you question or you demand or you challenge you get treated with an extreme hostility and brutality. I’ve seen it so many times. I’ve experienced it.” The authors of Georgetown’s 2017 study stated that “the
Rebecca Epstein shares her research into how the perception that black girls are more adult-like and less innocent than their white counterparts could increase their chances of ending up in the criminal justice system. National statistics show black girls are suspended more than five times as often as white girls and are 2.7 times more
The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative found that in 1992, black girls comprised 29% of all girls with juvenile court cases; in 2002, the number was 30%; and by 2009, it was 40%. By all accounts, this increase is not due to a rise in the criminal activity of black girls. It comes down to decisions
A highly-cited paper from the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, Human Rights Project for Girls and Ms. Foundation for Women titled “The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline,” found “that in a perverse twist of justice, many girls who experience sexual abuse are routed into the juvenile justice system because of their victimization.” Authors
The need for long-term and specialized care to treat child sex-trafficking victims is increasing. For decades, rescued children wound up being arrested and thrown into the juvenile justice system. But that’s changed in recent years, as states have moved to steer victims toward treatment. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have eliminated criminal liability
Black girls are nearly four times more likely to be arrested at school than their white counterparts and Latina girls are almost three times more likely to be arrested in elementary school than white girls, a new report says. Researchers at the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality and the National Black Women’s Justice